I love the smell of 9mm in the あさ!

That top image is obviously not indicative of the whole episode’s animation, nor the entire series. But it’s already reminding me of Studio DEEN. What’s going on JC Staff? But hey, the first episode wasn’t that bad as a setup episode. It’s not as flat out wonky, but neither was it near the amount of fabulousness of Star Driver, nor the epicness of Kore wa Zombie Desu ka?. I’m also in a bit of shock to realize that Junji Majima’s voice no longer reminds me of Ryuuji, and.. well, Rie Kugimiya just sounds like nearly 80% of her previous roles, not including her obvious standouts like Alphonse from FMA or Kagura in Gintama.

But I’ve been noticing the show feels comfortable. Nothing glaring me in the face saying anything significant, so this is either a blessing or a warning.

A beginning that belongs somewhere in the middle of the episode; it sounds like one of those directorial things that are taught in film school. At some point, I was also reminded of a doujin that involved a girl trying to explain to a boy that the flatter a girl’s breasts are, the bigger their True Breast™ is. But I have nothing else to say because this show has a scene with a loli in a box*. (Not to say that a loli in a box automatically means the show isn’t serious. Looking at you Outlaw Star/Firefly.) A couple of these scenes will instantly deflate anyone’s hopes that it was going to be a serious and artful anime. These days, those are rare, thanks to a rather bad economy. But what interests me about this show was the backdrop. Armed students in training for a combat career? Who knows what would have happened if someone like Production IG or Madhouse got a hold of this sort of premise, if not the production rights to Hidan no Aria?

… I take it back. I don’t want Production IG or Madhouse to do this series. It probably would have ended up as some kind of milquetoast anime with a pedestrian main protagonist. I have to hand it to Junji Majima for getting roles that have a minimum level of GAR. In this case, our protagonist Tooyama Kinji has inherited genes that enable him to be a savant under certain conditions. The TL;DR of it is, he was born with GAR genes. Aria-chan is cute as well. (Unless you’re a Kugyu hater.)

I like this show already. Weapons and Kugimiya are pluses.
*Okay fine. More like loli in rectangular shaped gym equipment.